


Photographs and Surprises

by writteninweakness



Category: Amnesia (Game & Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkwardness, F/M, Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Pining, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 03:31:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20500154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writteninweakness/pseuds/writteninweakness
Summary: Ikki finds something interesting in the Campus Life magazine, to Kent's dismay. Meanwhile, someone has a confession to make.





	Photographs and Surprises

**Author's Note:**

> This started as me trying to do another platonic prompt and having it go kind of awry.
> 
> It was funny, sort of, and a bit cute, and mostly quite awkward, but I grouped it together and now it is a one-shot.

* * *

“Don’t you have some work to do… elsewhere?” Kent asked, frowning as Ikkyu made himself rather too at home in the lab. He had the unpleasant suspicion that the other man might even start removing garments if not prodded otherwise, which was never wise. The fan club seemed to sense that and come to find him, making it impossible for Kent to do anything. Their noise and obsessive behavior was highly disruptive, and he would like to call security on them.

“No, I’m just going to relax here for a bit,” Ikkyu said, sprawling out on the couch. “Don’t mind me. I’ve got my copy of Campus Life. I won’t bother you a bit.”

“That is an erroneous statement. You always bother me when you read that magazine.”

“Not always.”

“At least once a month,” Kent corrected, forcing himself to be more accurate. “Every time they include the ‘sexiest man’ section.”

“I’m about to win for the thirty-sixth time in a row,” Ikkyu said, grinning like a fool. “That’s a record no one has achieved before, you know.”

“Considering the unfair advantage you have, I fail to see why you’re gloating.” Kent adjusted his glasses and shook his head. He didn’t see the point in such contests anyway.

“It’s the principle of the thing,” Ikkyu said. He smiled. “I’m sexy and I know it, after all, but the rest of the world...”

“If you just attempted to make a pop culture reference that went over my head, I am glad it did.” Kent turned back to his computer, trying to resume his work when Ikkyu suddenly stood, knocking something off the table as he did.

“No. Impossible.”

“Ikkyu.”

The other man ignored him, pacing around the room in agitation. He muttered to himself as he did, not seeming to care that he was bumping into other objects around him. “It has to be a prank.”

“Ikkyu,” Kent repeated, but again he was ignored. He grimaced and rose, going over to block the path and force Ikkyu to stop. Folding his arms across his chest, he faced the other man with annoyance. “This is not relaxing.”

“No, but… fine, see if you don’t think this is a prank.”

Kent frowned, taking the magazine from him and staring at the picture in disbelief. He read on, trying to understand. _It seems fitting that if anyone was going to knock King Ikki off his __throne it would be a fellow math genius and Ikki’s own friend. This was a hard sell for some of our committee, but in the end, the combination of seeing just what was under that coat and the addition of his undeniably cute companion pushed Kent over Ikki this month. We’re not entirely sure who managed to capture this candid shot of Kent with his kitten, but we’re certainly glad they did. Congratulations, Kent._

Kent lowered the magazine. “You are not allowed to get a bunch of cats.”

“What? That’s your reaction to this?”

“Aside from being slightly unsettled by the knowledge that someone took this photograph without my knowledge—though it does look like it was when I discovered that particular rain-logged feline at Meido No Histuji and ended up having to remove my soiled uniform top after attempting to dry it which led to this… pose of it sleeping on me that—I suppose that explains when it was taken, but not why or who… Still, knowing you as well as I do, I repeat—you are not allowed to get a bunch of cats.”

Ikkyu frowned. “But...”

“It is not the only way to reclaim your title.”

Ikkyu sighed. “You may be right about that. And… I guess… I’m sorry I said it had to be a prank. I almost thought maybe… but you wouldn’t do that.”

“No.”

“Do you think you’ll get a fan club now?”

Kent shuddered. “I sincerely hope not.”

* * *

_You aren’t a schoolgirl with a crush. Don’t do this._

_Technically, college _is_ still school._

Kokoa sighed as she set the photo frame down on her nightstand. She touched her fingers to the frame, her mental debate with herself still raging on. She’d made up her mind back when she first started at Meido No Hitsuji not to fall for any of her coworkers, since she knew this was just a role and that the ones who were attractive naturally had an edge over others when it came to this kind of work. She was just there to earn her spending money while in school. That was it.

So why did she have a framed portrait of her most difficult coworker sitting next to her bed?

She sat down on the bed with a sigh. She was hopeless. She hadn’t even thought it was possible to fall for Kent, not with his blunt manners and obsession with math, but somehow she’d found herself fascinated by him. His way of thinking was so unique, and he showed he had a sense of humor—even a bit of a flair for the dramatic—when he was around Ikki. They were hilarious, and she could have believed Ikki when he tried to convince her they were actually brothers.

She picked up the photograph, biting her lip. Kent had showed her—not just her, everyone who was working that day—such different sides of himself that day. She supposed his underlying attractiveness wasn’t a side so much as something they’d all overlooked. Seeing Kent without a shirt had made more than a few people swoon that day, but what really won her over was his kindness towards that poor cat.

At first, he’d dismissed the sound, stating that any wild animal had instincts for such an occasion, but then he started overanalyzing it, decided it was a kitten and possibly too young to know what to do and if it was abandoned by its mother, it required assistance to survive. So he’d gone back out for it and searched the whole back alley until he found it, nearly drowned. He cleaned it up with his shirt and dried it with his apron—Waka wasn’t thrilled about that—and then the kitten had fallen asleep on him before he could change. She and everyone else ogling him convinced him not to move, and she swore she could still feel that tingle when their hands touched as she gave him a book to read so he wouldn’t be completely bored.

And then she’d taken a picture with her phone, the same one she had in her hands.

_I am such an idiot. _Kent probably wouldn’t even think about her that way, and how was she supposed to impress a smart man like that? She did okay, sometimes, but she was kind of… stupid in comparison to him and Ikki.

“I should still tell him. If he rejects me, then… I can move on, right?”

She sighed, curling up on her side and trying to figure out just how to tell a man who believed that love was just a chemical reaction that she was in love with him.

* * *

“No, my tutoring lessons do not come with sexual favors. Go away.”

“What?”

Kent grimaced as he looked up at the doorway, surprised to see his coworker standing there. Of course he recognized her voice, but as she did not attend this university, her presence here was rather strange. Had she come to see that loud one, the one that was part of Ikkyu’s fan club?

“Why would anyone expect that? I mean...” She flushed red, and Kent wished he had not spoken at all. Ikkyu’s words would seem prophetic or perhaps a curse, if one believed in such things. Kent did not, but that did not change what was happening. Ikkyu found it amusing, but Kent certainly did not. He was being plagued by women due to that damned article, and he wanted to find whoever had taken that picture and do them harm.

“I was entered into a contest without my knowledge or consent, and I won this month’s ‘sexiest man on campus’ according to the student magazine, so women I have never met before have been coming by with an alarming frequency. I have had far too many start by claiming they need tutoring help in math and ending with rather suggestive comments or...” Kent stopped himself. That was not something he needed to share. “Suffice to say, it has been annoying.”

“Oh.”

“Is something wrong? You seem… This expression you are making is rather like the one you had when you found out your parents had euthanized your childhood pet without telling you first, and yet… I do not understand why.”

She swallowed. “Please don’t hate me.”

“What?”

“I took that picture, Kent. It… the cat was adorable, you were adorable, and I couldn’t help it. I took out my phone and snapped a picture. Um… More than one, actually. I didn’t even...”

Kent frowned, struggling to accept this. “You… submitted that photo to the magazine?”

She shook her head. “No. I didn’t. I swear I didn’t know about the contest until today at work when Mine showed us how you won. I asked her how that picture got there because I didn’t give it to anyone, but she swore she didn’t take it from me, and Sawa wouldn’t, so… I don’t know how it got to the magazine. Honestly, I don’t, but I… I never meant to cause you this kind of trouble. It was just a photo for my personal use and...”

“Your personal use? A photograph of… me?”

“Of the cat. Yes, the cat. I need to go. I just came to say I was sorry, and I have, so I am going. Goodbye, Kent.” She turned to leave but smacked into the door frame as she did. She grimaced and put a hand to her head. “Ow. How did I miss it by that much?”

“You appear to be panicking,” Kent told her, coming over to lead her to the couch. “Here. Sit. I can’t see why you’d come this far from your work and home if you did not have time before you must be somewhere else.”

She reddened. “Oh, just kill me now.”

“Excuse me?”

“You just said you were so sick of girls coming here and trying to get you to go out with them, and I can’t blame you for that, and I don’t know how this happened—again, I swear I never gave the photo to anyone and—”

“I would very much like to know why you felt the need to keep it in the first place.”

“Don’t make me say it. I’ve already humiliated myself enough. And you’ll hate me if you hear it, so I don’t want to.”

He tilted his head, studying her. “Honestly, I think you would have to do something quite extreme to get me to hate you. Yes, it is true that we bicker on occasion, sometimes rather vehemently, but we are both of strong conviction, which is admirable, if not always amiable.”

She twisted the strap of her bag, fidgeting. “And what would happen if one more girl said that she liked you?”

“I would have to reiterate to her as I have most of them that she has no idea who I am.”

“But… suppose she knew you. Like… she had class with you or… worked with you.”

“There are few in my classes, and most of the women enrolled in them seem to dislike me intensely. This hypothetical seems impractical. Is it actually necessary?”

“One more question,” she said, looking down at her bag and not at him. “What if… that girl… the one who wanted to say she liked you… what if… she was me?”

“Is this another prank? I didn’t appreciate the first one. And yet… It seems so unlike you to participate in such a thing,” he said, frowning. “I have never observed you to act in such a malicious matter, and I would not want to think that you would. Yet you admitted to taking that picture and… You… actually have feelings for me? I… Why?”

“I know I’m not as smart as you and I know that I must seem stupid for this, but I knew I had to tell you. I needed to… Well, I should just go. I understand. You don’t want to—”

“You are reacting in an overly emotional manner again,” Kent said, blocking her before she made another ill-advised attempt to bolt out the door. She might injure herself if she did. “I did not say I was angry about it, nor am I… upset. I am, however, confused. Why me? I know you are closer to most of our other coworkers, and if there is one person who seems to gain women’s attention easily, it is Ikkyu. Any of them seem more likely than… me. We disagree frequently, I know you’ve said you hate me before, and do you not believe that math is pointless?”

She shook her head. “That was before you started pointing out how much math is in our every day lives. I think you could get just about anyone to appreciate math. You’re so passionate about it, and you have such fun duels with Ikki… And while we might not agree on everything, we did agree on some important things and you have such kindness in you like when you took care of that cat, or the time when my uniform got caught on my heel and ripped and I… That’s still so humiliating to think about, but you gave me your apron, arguing with the others that it was better because it covered more, and you didn’t try and sneak a peek, but you helped me up and got it around me so I wasn’t exposed. And… and there are other little things, too… bunches of them. I didn’t even notice them creeping up on me until that day you were sitting with the cat and I found myself thinking ‘there’s a lot to love about a man like Kent.’ And as soon as the thought was in my head, I started finding them all and… I really do want to go now. I have said far more than I should have, and I don’t… I can’t stay any longer if you’re just going to stare at me like I’m insane.”

“It can be argued that love makes people insane. Or at least irrational.”

She winced. “Kent...”

He also had to grimace. “That is not to say that I feel that you are acting insane. I am… I don’t… This is such a strange afternoon. I did not expect this. Yes, many others have made shallow declarations, but they were easily dismissed. They don’t know me. You… You, who from what I have observed, could have her pick of men—perhaps others as well—you… chose me. And it is hard to overcome my doubts on the matter. Of course, my parents would say it was simply the genetics at work, since it would hardly be equal if only one half of the match had the chemical reactions and yet to think that you could when I had determined that likelihood as being infinitesimal. Since I had not yet finished my research into which course of action is best—confessing such feelings or saying nothing—was incomplete, I had yet to do anything about those reactions.”

“Wait, what?”

He found himself smiling even as her expression turned indignant. “I suppose I was unclear. Very well. I will clarify. You are not the only one experiencing romantic emotions—or at least the chemical reaction that simulates such things.”

“You… Why?”

He laughed. Their conversation had come full circle, hadn’t it? “I lack proper research into the best response to a confession of love—some dramas suggest going as far as kissing, but that seems excessive, though you… are crying, and I would wipe the tear from your cheek and—oof.”

She threw herself at him, holding onto him. He did think it was too early in a relationship for such contact, but she seemed to want it, so he held her.

“This is acceptable, then?”

She nodded. “Yes. Don’t let go.”

“That… seems impractical in the long term, but I suppose for now, it is very… pleasant. Are you laughing at me?”

“Yes, but only because I love you.”

“That seems like some kind of faulty logic.”

“No. It’s just… I love the way you talk.”

“I see.”

She giggled. “That. Stop it. I… it’s too adorable. I just love it more and more and… I could stay like this forever.”

“Again, that is impractical, but I think I agree with your sentiment. Again.”

“I love you, Kent.”

“And I believe I have some feelings which are romantic in nature and—”

“Just say it.”

Kent did not know that he could. “This has not been proven. It’s not something one should state as fact when it could be an erroneous assumption.”

“Then state it as a hypothesis.”

He almost pulled her closer for such a suggestion. “Very well. I believe that these romantic emotions mean I am in love with you. I do wish to test this theory, of course.”

“Me, too.”


End file.
